Culinary ramblings of a mischievous cook. Recipes,pictures,diary entries and all things foodie.Follow a journey of life in the east Algarve, Portugal...

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Need cheese must travel-Burrata,go to it

Forget babies, storks should deliver Burrata

If you're searching for the perfect cheese, stop right here because the answer is Burrata.Move over buffala, Burrata is here. Burrata is simply a dream.

As
much as you want your Mozzarella di Bufala to be fresh, you want your
Burrata to be newborn.It's creamy, luscious, and the kind of thing we lie awake thinking
about at night.If I had to pick one food to eat for an entire day, it would probably be
burrata. Just leave me alone with it and a spoon and I’d be more than happy.

Chef Fabio Zerbo´s modern take on Burrata with smoked ham and home made pesto at LPA Ayamonte

In fact, Burrata is Italian for butter, if that
gives you any clues on how rich it can be. If you’ve never had Burrata,
stop reading immediately and run to your nearest Italian restaurant.
Then rush home because you’re going to want to understand exactly what
you just ate. You’ll know for certain that it was the most sublime
thing you’ve ever consumed: a creamy, salty pillow that melted your heart
as quickly as it melted in your mouth. But you’ll need to get to bottom
of this celestial experience, because burrata just became an integral
part of your life.The brave guys at Food Republic assure us that you can totally do this yourself. Cheesemaking -I´m not so sure?

This
soft Italian cheese, made from full-fat whole cows milk, is one of the
best specialities of Puglia.This delicate cheese has no equal and merits
travelling a long way for. Burrata is not a good traveller,so you must
go to it.

Burrata
is basically mozzarella with a surprise inside. It starts out just like
mozzarella; milk curds are dipped in hot water and kneaded into a ball
of cheese. Then -- this is the important part -- that ball of cheese is
stuffed with mozzarella curd bits and milky cream and tied up into a
knot of deliciousness.Cutting into a fresh ball of this stuff is
undoubtedly one of the most glorious cheese experiences you can ever
have. Not to mention, this cheese tastes amazing with every kind of
summer produce you have lying around. Tear the outside of your burrata
into pieces and add it to pastas or salads. Drizzle the creamy inside
with olive oil, sprinkle with flakey salt, and serve alongside tomatoes,
grilled bread, or roasted vegetables. The possibilities are endless. and
when you are dealing with a cheese this ethereal, you really can't go
wrong.The cheese’s exquisiteness means that, for the most part, you want to
keep your burrata recipes pretty simple. It is an incredible ingredient
that can shine mostly on its own.You want the exterior to be delicate and tender
as possible while the inside is creamy, oozy heaven. Heaven in this
case being small, elastic bits of the torn mozzarella (stracciatella)
mixed with rich cream. It should be utterly butterly, sweet and fresh in
flavour. It should make you weep, well just a little bit.

Presunto Rúcula Burrata PizzaHow could you go wrong, presunto, arugula, burrata anything? You can’t.
It’s one of those combinations of ingredients that go together
perfectly no matter what, and especially when pizza is involved. There
aren’t many ingredients involved in the making of this, which is
probably why it’s so good – you can really taste each component with
every bite, nothing gets lost or overpoweredFor the pizza dough:

2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)

1⅛ cups warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

For the pizza:

1 pizza dough

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon dried oregano

125g fresh mozzarella, sliced

250g buratta

200g sliced presunto

Piri piri flakes

For the pizza dough: In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm water, olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit for 10 minutes, until foamy. Add in 2½ cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt, stir well until the dough starts to come together, but is still a little sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and add in the remaining ½ cup of flour. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes.Rub the same bowl with a little bit of olive oil and place the dough inside the bowl, turning to coat all sides with the oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let sit in a warm place for 1- 1½ hours to rise.Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, or if you're using a pizza stone, preheat to 500 degrees F.Once the dough has risen, lightly flour a flat surface. Use your hands or a rolling pin to roll out the pizza dough until it reaches your desired shape. To assemble the pizza: Brush the pizza dough with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place dough onto the pizza stone, or onto a baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 7-9 minutes, until crust is cooked through and lightly golden brown.Remove crust from the oven and brush with the remaining olive oil. Add minced garlic and dried oregano to the crust. Top with the mozzarella slices and break the burrata into crumbles onto the crust as well. Put the crust back into the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbling.Take the pizza out of the oven and top with the sliced prosciutto. Place the pizza back into the oven and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes until prosciutto is slightly crispy and the crust is entirely cooked through and golden brown.Top pizza with rúcula, piri piri flakes.

About Me

I´m a self-taught cook.From my childhood in Scotland through growing up in South East England, my mother was my formative influence. Holidays in Europe, America,Africa and Scandinavia fed me with culinary inspiration. Fifteen years of holidaying in Tavira, led me to up roots and follow the dream to live in Portugal. Here in Castro Marim we run a small guest house, Casa Rosada.Relocation has opened my eyes and taste buds to how recipes and their ingredients can change and develop when incorporated into another country´s food culture and how foreigners like myself adapt the local dishes,bringing a new slant to them.In the last three years I have been researching and cooking traditional Portugueses dishes and then inventing a modern twist to them. I´ve started this food blog so I can share new recipes and a slice of Algarvian life here at Casa Rosada here in Castro Marim.